Observing Manaqiban Tradition and Various Religious Activities in IPMAFA

In Pati Regency, Central Java, there is an Islamic university called Institut Pesantren Mathaliul Falah (IPMAFA) which has three important characters in its education system, namely: learning based on pesantren values, research and entrepreneurship. Religious values and traditions are used as daily behavior in the IPMAFA environment so that a balance is created between campus academic education and religious practices that become habits. This is what makes the Ipmafa campus has more value that its graduate students automatically become a santri who is equipped with pesantren education as well as understanding ahlussunah wal jamaah. In more detail, the following religious activities are commonly found in the IPMAFA Pati campus environment:

Khataman Al-Quran

Khataman Al-Quran is one of the routine and very frequently carried out activities on the IPMAFA campus, both for the students, employees and lecturers. This Khataman has been done since the year the IPMAFA campus was founded and can be done by binnadhar (reading the Koran by opening a mushaf) or bil ghoib (memorization). Apart from its aim of obtaining rewards, this tradition is seen as important as a means so that prayers and desires can be granted. Al-Quran recitation activities at the student level are also accommodated in a student organization called Jam'iyyah Qurro' wal Huffadz (UKM JQH). JQH UKM is active in activities in the fields of khataman, Al-Quran studies, tambourines, MTQ calligraphy and so on.

Manaqiban

Manaqiban is an activity of reading the book of manaqib which has become a tradition on the IPMAFA campus and is also common among Islamic boarding schools and the NU community. Manaqib is a historical book that tells about the piety of the famous saint of Allah named Shaikh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. Reading this is believed to have many benefits and blessings. Apart from emulating the behavior and good deeds of Shaikh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, owner of the title Raja Wali, reciting manaqib also includes wasilah (means) to make it easier for someone to have their prayers answered. It is almost certain that every time there is a certain activity, whether the campus is celebrating a particular purpose or when it is experiencing something exciting, the campus carries out manaqiban as a form of gratitude. The organizers (sohibul hajat) are not only from the IPMAFA campus or by a special committee when there are campus-related activities, but can be individuals from lecturers or employees who have personal wishes. Activities that are usually carried out by manaqiban include: giving thanks for having their prayers answered, getting additional good fortune, having carried out a campus activity, wanting to prepare new students, preparing for accreditation, opening campus programs or activities, and many other activities. On average, it can be said that manaqiban activities on the IPMAFA campus can occur almost every month with different purposes.

Nariyahan

The nariyahan tradition is a tradition of reciting nariyah prayers which is carried out in congregation/groups followed by all lecturers, staff and students of IPMAFA. Shalawat nariyah itself is a prayer reading which contains prayers and praise to the Prophet Muhammad SAW and is believed to have great wisdom for those who read it and the desired wishes. In Islamic teachings itself, it is mutually agreed that as a form of love for the Prophet Muhammad SAW, Muslims are encouraged to recite shalawat in their lives. On the other hand, Rasulullah SAW will intercede for those who pray to him the most. The reading of shalawat nariyah varies in terms of quantity. On the IPMAFA campus, it is usually held 4,444 times in each event and is held 7 times.

Commemoration of Santri Day

IPMAFA students routinely commemorate the santri day which falls on October 22. Usually participants consisting of students and lecturers specifically wear typical Indonesian pesantren clothing, namely gloved and white clothes and black caps and white headscarves for female students. This is just to further remind and instill the culture and characteristics of Indonesian students from long ago.

Istighatsah

Istighatsah is a recitation of certain wirid (awrad) and shalawat that is done to ask Allah SWT for help for some very important things or serious problems. Istighatsah is certainly widely known and commonly practiced in the Nahdliyyin / NU community. Istighatsah is part of human efforts to ask Allah SWT for help so that their wishes are granted. One of the istighatsah activities at IPMAFA is the reading of shalawat bahriyah kubra which is believed to have wisdom and benefits when read. The reading is done 11 times in congregation. 

In addition to the activities above, there are many more traditions that are preserved in the IPMAFA campus environment with pesantren values and religious nuances in it. These activities include reciting the Qur'an at the start of class, making pilgrimages to the graves of guardians, providing compensation and alms to the poor and orphans, ijazahan amaliyah and other religious activities which are mostly carried out at the IPMAFA pesantren, namely Mahad Jamiah Mathaliul Falah, which is located behind the campus building.

Great!, KPI IPMAFA Student Becomes A Layouter of the Grand Arabic Dictionary

One of the students in the Islamic Communication and Broadcasting Study Program (KPI IPMAFA) had the opportunity to lay out the large Arabic dictionary Al-Muashir. He is Muhamad Anang Rivai or familiarly called Anang, a figure who is currently active as a 7th semester student at KPI Ipmafa who lay out the dictionary for approximately two months.

This is certainly an honor in itself because it can contribute to a fairly monumental work. Starting from the offer of the principal who is the compiler of the dictionary itself and armed with the skills and abilities learned at KPI Ipmafa, he ventured to take the offer. Anang is indeed quite active and enthusiastic in learning knowledge and skills in KPI Study Programs such as editing, graphic design, broadcasting and so on.

The Al Mu'ashir dictionary that Anang laid out is an Arabic-Indonesian dictionary with a total of 2080 pages and was published by Pustaka Progressif Surabaya. In addition, the Al Mu'ashir dictionary is one of the best Arabic-Indonesian dictionaries ever born in the long history of the world of dictionaries in Indonesia after the historical leap of the Al-Munawwir dictionary about four decades ago, said Prof. Dr. Ibnu Burdah MA.

One of the students in the Islamic Communication and Broadcasting Study Program (KPI IPMAFA) had the opportunity to lay out the large Arabic dictionary Al-Muashir. He is Muhamad Anang Rivai or familiarly called Anang, a figure who is currently active as a 7th semester student at KPI Ipmafa who lay out the dictionary for approximately two months.

"I as the compiler of the Contemporary Arabic-Indonesian Dictionary "Al-Mu'ashir" am grateful to those who have appreciated my work, as well as for the collaboration of fellow layouters, especially the illustrator of dictionary images Anang Rivai from KPI IPMAFA students and the publishing team so that this dictionary can be published in accordance with the requirements of the Indonesian dictionary," he said.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Santri's Identity Must Always Exist in The AI Era

Ipmafa Pati - In the Studium Generale (SG) 2023 event, IPMAFA Rector, KH Abdul Ghaffar Rozin urged students and lecturers in the campus to be able to see the future in the midst of IT and artificial intelligence (AI) developments. All are invited to be able to focus on the direction of the institution and the younger generation in the future, what needs to be prepared and done by understanding the shape of society in the future.

According to Gus Rozin, regarding the development of AI, he believes that AI technology has sophisticated systems and algorithms. But the strength and capital in pesantren does not lie only in the system. Pesantren has values and hearts that AI does not have where AI relies on intelligence in the brain but pesantren emphasizes intelligence of the heart, wisdom, morals, wise thinking, and so on.

In the context of AI, the students do not need to worry too much about the development. So the theme in SG "Reinventing pesantren values in the era of society 5.0" is important for all of us to see what will happen to the pesantren community and pesantren colleges. Therefore, the students of Ipmafa must have a strong base and values while studying and learning on the IPMAFA campus.

These were some of the speech points delivered by the Rector of Ipmafa in the SG event with an expert speaker in education, Ali Formen PHD, Tuesday (4/10/2023). SG was attended by all new students in 2023 who seemed enthusiastic about the event.

IPMAFA New Students Invited to Be Wise and Have Character in the Global Age

Ipmafa Pati - Deputy Chancellor I for Academic Affairs at IPMAFA, Dr. Ahmad Dimyati congratulated the new students for having the opportunity to continue their higher education at the IPMAFA campus. Not everyone has the opportunity to continue studying after finishing school, so that is something to be grateful for. He conveyed these congratulatory remarks at the inauguration and opening of the 2023 PSSMB IPMAFA, Monday (28/8/2023)

In his oration, Mr. Dimyati conveyed several things as general training to new students. Students must understand that in this world it is not enough to have a way of looking at globalism, namely seeing an interconnected order of life. Framing the outside world like that is certainly problematic because it gives the impression that globalism does not have certain boundaries. As a human being of a nation and state, everyone must maintain nationalism and an attitude of love for their homeland. Examples of the decline in nationalist attitudes in society are incidents of insulting national symbols, indifference to the integrity and unity of the country, and even acts of radicalism.

Apart from that, as students, many tend to prioritize intellectual and achievement achievements but do not include aspects of morality and good morals. As IPMAFA students, of course everyone will be equipped with various kinds of intellectual knowledge and theories. But as an Islamic boarding school campus, we will be equipped with values related to morality so that in the end students become figures of character and virtue.

The next thing that needs to be paid attention to is that many universities prioritize vocational aspects or special skills whose focus is focused on the market and industry needs. This also often includes important aspects related to character and cultivating morals. As a result, this can be seen from the news and facts circulating, not least among professionals, intellectuals and leaders who do not have a strong character base and actually harm the interests of society. A person's lack of values and character will lead to destructive behavior and attitudes.

Students are also invited to see that currently is an era where all aspects of life are technology-based so they must be based on awareness of human aspects. Technology must be seen as nothing more than a tool or device to achieve something, namely to make life easier, to make learning and work easier. The use of technology is very important and we need it together, but what is more important is that as humans we should not lose our identity and character.

While studying at IPMAFA, students will be given a variety of provisions, both intellectual and practical in nature or character and value instillation. In this way, students are expected to be wise, behave positively, and be able to sort out what is good and what is bad, whether something is useful or not. As a student, you must be able to see rationally and maturely so that you can consider the impacts that arise.

Opening Ceremony of the Master's Degree Program

The Institute of Pesantren Mathaliul Falah (IPMAFA) Pati has officially opened Postgraduate program of the Arabic Language Education Study Program (PBA) in accordance with the Decree of the Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia No 500 of 2023 concerning Permits to hold the Study Program Arabic Language Education for Magister Degree at the Mathaliul Falah Institute Pati.

For this reason, a joint thanksgiving event was held which was attended by the teachers of Mathaliul Falah (PIM) and IPMAFA. In the event, reading the Manaqib of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al Jailani was held for the blessings and benefits of education at IPMAFA which has been running for about 14 years.

IPMAFA Rector, KH Abdul Ghaffar Rozin - familiarly called Gus Rozin - in his remarks said that the Master degree in PBA Study Program is not merely for deepening Arabic language competence but also strengthening education management. The background to the opening of the PBA Master Degree was due, in part, to the fact that Arabic is one of the characteristics of Madrasan Mathaliul Falah whose character of strengthening religious knowledge.

PBA at IPMAFA is also one of the earliest study programs established since the existence of IPMAFA. "We should be grateful for this because in IPMAFA there is a seven-year cycle, namely in the first seven years, this college used to be called STAIMAFA and changed its status to IPMAFA, then in the following seven years IPMAFA brought new developments by opening a Masters level majoring in PBA. Gus Rozin also hopes that in time the doctoral program and other majors can be opened soon.

Then the Director of PIM KH Muhammad Abbad (Gus Mamad) also welcomed positively and felt proud of this achievement regarding the opening of the PBA Masters Degree. IPMAFA and PIM are institutions that are both under the auspices of the same Foundation. So on behalf of the Nurussalam Foundation, the institution tries to support as much as possible hoping that the opening of the Masters in PBA becomes the key to the opening of other departments and faculties. Thus the education in the IPMAFA environment will be maximized.

Hajar Pamuji Encourages KPI Students to Create Quality Content

Being a part of the hobbies for today's young generation, creative content nowadays can also generate financial benefit. However, it is better for beginners to be a content creator not driven by economic benefits, but focusing on producing quality content. This was conveyed by Hajar Pamuji, a senior content creator in Pati, during the Night of Friendship event (Makrab) for IPMAFA KPI students at Jollong Agro Tourism, Pati (5-6/11/2022).

Hajar conveyed in a relaxed but comprehensive manner about how to become a content creator who is not only oriented towards financial gain or the number of subscribers, but focuses on the quality of content as well as having human and religious values. Students were invited to watch the film "Jumilah" which tells the story of a simple idea, viz Indonesian migrant worker who have to work abroad and leave their lover. However, when he returned home to propose to his girlfriend, he was forced to run aground because it turned out that his lover already had another candidate.

Although the plot of film is simple, some religious and social messages can be conveyed well in Jumilah's film, such as praying on time, not taking revenge, being patient and giving help without discrimination. Jumilah's film was produced in a very short time in which taking pictures and editing took approximately one day.

According to Hajar, quality content can be realized from the ideas around us, so a content creator can actually be flexible in choosing any theme that will be turned into a content. But keep in mind, content should focus on certain themes such as traveling, unboxing, culinary, training, villages, religion, etc. Don't let a mixed channel contain content with different themes. For content creators who are already big, it might not be a problem to create content of different genres.

Hajar also said that creating content must be consistent so that it can be produced continuously. So content creators must determine broadcast targets so that their production is sustainable. Don't let content production be seasonal and temporary.

Nonton film Jumilah

Hajar Pamuji bersamapara content creator Pati

KPI Students Celebrate Shalawat with Az Zahir Pekalongan

Sholawat ceremony with Majelis Az Zahir Pekalongan became a special moment for KPI Ipmafa students because they were tasked with overseeing live streaming media during the event, 27 September 2022. In addition to adding experience in organizing technical broadcasts for thousands of people audience, students made this moment a moment of worship chanting prayers.

Gallery of KPI IPMAFA Students During Shalawat With Az Zahir Pekalongan